I made a battery backup for the Shake. I used a Mean Well DRC-40A (12V UPS module) and DDR-15G-5 (DC-DC converter that takes 9-36 VDC and outputs 5V at 3A.) I used a Sealed Lead Acid battery like you might find in a security system or emergency light. I ran the output to a USB bulkhead (just hooked to the power pins) and then with a USB-A cable to the shake. I also put some fuses and a cutoff button with indicator light, and put the whole thing in a project box that I mounted a little piece of DIN rail to the back of. I don’t know the prices of everything, because this project got delayed a bunch of times and I forgot some stuff, but probably under $100 total.
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Love this!
Great approach to all elements from start to end. I’m sure it will be an inspiration for other users who want to self-build a battery back-up for their Raspberry Shakes.
Personally, I’m also impressed by the overall low cost. It seemed more expensive from the pictures so well done!
I ordered most of the parts from China directly (on Lazada) during the big Christmas sales last year. it would cost quite a bit more from Amazon and even more from digikey or mouser. I’m not sure what it would cost if I lived in the US, especially now with the tariffs.
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Well, it doesn’t seem to work. The shake is only intermittently producing data on the battery box, so I switched it back to the factory power supply.
I don’t have time to troubleshoot it right now (nor a good way to measure the voltage at the Pi), but I set the voltage to 5.1 volts and it should be able to handle 3 amps.
It could be the USB cable (should have gotten Anker instead of UGreen), it could also be that I had to put it only a few inches from my WiFi modem.
I ordered a few USB to barrel jack cables, when I get them I’ll cut one up to measure the voltage at the barrel jack, and also try using one of those to the barrel jack instead of using the USB cable.
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Is the DRC-40A delivering enough current at 5V while also charging? I cannot tell if the output is a “and/and” or “and/or” for power or charging.
Good luck, it is a really nice looking project.
It could be the cable in the end, yes.
We had a couple of users that had everything set up right but the cable was underdelivering. Once changed, everything went back to normal.
It’s worth investigating when you have the time.